


Poltergeist

by insomnislack



Category: Gravity Falls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-12
Updated: 2017-04-12
Packaged: 2018-10-17 23:41:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10604742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insomnislack/pseuds/insomnislack
Summary: Sock Opera ends a little differently than our dear twins would have liked. (Reposting from my Quotev.)





	1. Body Snatcher

Dipper had a tough decision on his hands. Or rather, on Bill's flaming blue hands. The journals told him to trust no one, and surely that "no one" included one eyed, triangular dream demons bent on making deals with people stupid enough to summon him. Gideon summoned Bill, which went against Dipper's journal, and that went nowhere good. So why make a deal with Bill, despite how...innocent it sounded?

A puppet in exchange for the password to the laptop? It was pathetic that he was even considering taking Bill's offer. Dipper felt as though he was betraying Mabel, betraying the Author, and worst of all betraying himself.

"Tic toc, kid." Bill spoke again, his single eye transforming into a clock as he extended that blue flame to Dipper yet again. Bill's earlier words echoed in his head, somehow making sense. One little puppet really wasn't a bad price to get into the laptop, so why not? Dipper stared at his foe in defeat, the blue hue of that demon flame reflecting in his eyes as he reluctantly took the bait- took the offer- went against everything he knew was right. It didn't dawn on him that Bill didn't pull his hand away immediately. It didn't occur to him to make sure of what puppet Bill wanted. And it was all too late to matter when Bill pulled Dipper's spirit straight out of his body.

The day from there on went by in a slow blur for Dipper. He played this stupid game of trying to get help from his sister whose only worry was wooing some long haired creep with a puppet obsession. She finally listened to him, and in doing so ruined her own production.

Dipper had watched, see through hands with puppets on them, as Mabel and Bill fell from the ceiling, falling on top of the set and destroying the wedding cake prop. Dipper was horrified, knowing that his body was going through a lot of strain. He picked up one of the sock puppets he'd been using to act out Mabel's "Singing and Kissing" scene and threw it at Bill. It hit him lightly on the head and fell to the floor, causing him to look Dipper's way in an annoyed manner. He got over it quickly, grabbing for the journal again. Dipper continued to watch as Bill attacked Mabel, knocking her over.

"Hey!" Dipper yelled, floating closer. "Knock it off! Leave her alone!" He picked up a piece of wood from the railing the two had crushed in their fall, throwing that at Bill as well. This one hit him in the back with an unpleasant sounding thud.

While Bill seemed all too pleased with hurting himself before this whole debacle, the look he shot Dipper was one of anger. The demon was the kind of guy to get what he wanted when he wanted it with no complications. Dipper was a distraction, and Bill did not like distractions.

"I said stop!" Dipper yelled again, grabbing for another piece of the broken prop. "Give my body back!"

Mabel looked at Bill in confusion, watching as he glared at an empty space. She followed his gaze and watched as a piece of the set rose up and flew right for Bill again.

"I'll deal with Pine Tree later." Bill reasoned, moving out of the object's path. It hit the floor hard next to Bill and Mabel, ignored as they began to fight for the journal again. Dipper didn't want his sister hurt, and he didn't want Bill hurting her in his body nonetheless. He tried his hardest to figure out what to do, grabbing for a larger piece of wood.

By this time, everyone had left the audience. Gabe left first, complaining about how Mabel's brother ruined the show. Then Candy, chasing Gabe while screaming something surely needy and pathetic. Then a crowd of people and Grenda. Who wanted to stay and watch the two fight? How embarrassing.

Dipper hadn't cared about that anyways. He didn't care that they looked crazy doing this. He just knew that he needed his body back or everything was over.

The piece of wood he grabbed was hard to pick up, but his anger fueled his strength as he whipped it at Bill. This time, Bill fell off of Mabel with blood beginning to run down the side of his head from the impact. He groaned, suddenly deciding that he liked controlled pain. Not this surprise pain. He glared at the empty space again, grabbing the journal from Mabel.

"Be as annoying as you want, kid, it's not gonna stop me from getting what I want." Bill said knowingly, grinning at the journal. Mabel went to grab for it again weakly, but Bill pushed her away with ease. He held the journal up, eyes glinting evilly as they met Dipper's. It began to catch on fire, blue flame licking up the sides.

Bill let out a triumphant laugh as Mabel watched from her spot on the stage floor, uncertain of if she should intervene. Dipper stared in disbelief, then felt himself become much more angry than he ever thought he was capable of.

"BILL!" He screamed, picking up a chair and throwing it at the demon. It hit him in the chest, sending him stumbling and the journal sprawling across the floor- A little rough on the edges but okay overall. He landed on his back, laughing despite the pain in his gut. "What is your problem!?" He shrieked, throwing more pieces of the set at the beaten up body on the floor.

Dipper did not register it as Mabel cowered and backed herself behind a wall, trying to avoid being hit by the barrage of items Dipper began to throw. She couldn't hear him or see him, she could only try and remember that this was her brother. He wouldn't hurt her. She closed her eyes and sighed in defeat. Whatever Dipper was planning must be good, she was sure of it. Mabel nodded to herself, crawling across the floor and grabbing the journal. With this book it would not be the end for them.

When she finally heard the objects stop falling she peeked around the wall. Dipper's body lay unconscious on the ground.

"Dipper?" She asked, crawling towards him and shaking him lightly. "Hey, bro bro. Are you okay?" She frowned when she didn't receive a response but got onto her feet and pulled him onto her back. "You're gonna be fine." She told him soothingly, climbing off of the stage to begin the long walk home despite feeling a tugging sensation on her sweater.

And all Dipper could do was hope she'd understand that the tugging was her own brother begging for help.

The next morning, Bill awoke under a scratchy, sweaty smelling blanket with Mabel's gaze on him intently from across the room.

"Dipper!" She squealed, jumping up from her own bed and running at him. She hugged him tightly, stopping immediately once his body twitched in pain. "Oops, sorry. Love hurts sometimes though!" She laughed, and Bill watched her for a moment before grinning and laughing along in hopes that it didn't sound too played out. "You totally showed that stupid triangle whose boss! Knocking him out was a genius idea, Dipper!" Bill had to think before speaking. He couldn't blow this chance to fool Mabel. He wasn't doing very well, he guessed, since she frowned at him.

"Look, bro, I know you're upset. But it's all over! Bill lost." She patted him lightly on the head, avoiding injuries, and beamed.

Bill kept up the charade, talking with her briefly but only able to half listen as his attention was brought to the scene just behind her. He watched as one of her paint brushes began to levitate and move toward the wall. In moments, there was white paint all over Mabel's posters reading, "GET OUT".

"-Yeah, and Gabe was a total creep. He made out with his puppets!" She snickered, then waved the thought away. "Oh well. Boys." She laughed and walked for the door. "Meet you downstairs for breakfast!" She called, allowing him a few moments of peace. He waited to hear her footsteps down the stairs to speak.

"Pine Tree?" Bill called, looking around expectantly.

Nothing.

He got out of the bed, ignoring the ache in his...everything. "Where are you?" Bill asked while looking around the small attic, suddenly confused. Why couldn't he see the little brat? As if in response, there was a thud behind him. He spun around and saw that one of Dipper's figurines had fallen off of a shelf. Bill picked it up and placed it back on the shelf, moving to exit through the door. He didn't dare turn his back to the room until the door was closed. Something was terribly wrong and Bill Cipher did not like it.


	2. Temper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Desperate times... desperate measures? Just how desperate is too desperate when the life of a loved one is at risk?

It had been days.

Days of pretending to be someone he was not, trapped in a body that was not his own, listening to a sister he did not have.

"Grunkle Stan! I'm telling you! This book came off of the shelf like this-" Mabel gestured- "Flew right here-" She stood and held her arms up- "And fell here!" She exclaimed, pointing at the floor while dancing back and forth uncomfortably. "That doesn't just HAPPEN!" She whined.

Stan was sitting in his chair, taking a drink of his soda while sighing in a dismissive manner.

"Mabel, sweetie pie, Dipper's rubbing off on you. Is this a-" He paused for dramatic effect, wiggling the fingers that weren't wrapped around the soda can- "Mystery of the Unexplained?" Stan asked almost expertly Dipperish, then burst into laughter. He turned to Mabel as she crossed her arms and glared at him expectantly. "Look kid," He sighed, "-it's nothing. This place is rickety and old, the boards probably are shifting and knocking things around." He tried to reason, but Mabel wasn't having any of it.

"You mean the floorboards settling sounds like someone crying like the other night? And they grab my sweaters when I'm with Dipper? Oh, and it must be the air shifting through the cracks in the walls that picks up my paint brushes and PAINTS WITH THEM." She yelled, giving Stan a skeptical look. She marched out of the room to go and try and find her brother, knowing he would always be up for a good mystery. In doing so, she remembered that this task had been getting harder and harder to accomplish, but she tried nonetheless, leaving Stan to shrug in his chair and go back to his secret channel showing, "The Dutchess Approves."

Dipper didn't hang around much anymore. He was always off by himself doing...something. And whenever Mabel found him and would ask what he was doing, he lied. She could tell he was lying. She didn't like it, but everyone had their secrets. Where could he be today? A new room? The roof? The forest? Mabel opted to open the suddenly very interesting door down the hall, following what she called her "Twin-tuition". She walked towards it and went to grab the handle, stopping when she heard talking coming from the room.

"Who is here with me?" The voice asked. Mabel narrowed her eyes, bending down to look in the keyhole. Dipper sat cross legged on the floor, looking deep in thought as he stared at a board on the floor in front of himself. Mabel couldn't make it out from this angle, but it appeared that Dipper was playing a board game alone. His arms were extended out, gingerly touching something on the board. Slowly he began to move, then suddenly his movements became jerky. She watched as his eyes widened, then he yelled, "Thank you, but I need to go. Good bye!" He looked strained as he pulled whatever he'd been holding to a certain spot on the board, then he stood up and sighed as if he were drained. He began to walk for the door, so Mabel bolted into the bathroom and waited for his footsteps to pass. She peeked out the door, looked left and right and noted the absence of Dipper, then ran for the new and mysterious room.

Mabel flung the door open and ran in while muttering something like "You can't hide anything from me Dipper!" but immediately regretted it as the door slammed shut behind her. There was no time to snoop before she could hear what sounded like scratching. She whipped around and gasped in horror as deep scratches began to appear in the door.

"He's..." She read from the fresh marks on the door, "Not..." She fretted the next word. "Me." She turned slowly to look at what her brother had previously been so interested in and glared as she laid her eyes on a ouji board. "Dipper! How could y-" She was cut off by by a pound next to the door. It was definitely from inside the room. It was as if it was reminding her to look at the door- saying to listen to it's words before scolding anyone. "D-Dipper?" She asked aloud, the door swinging open, but this time it was because of something Mabel could actually see.

There stood Dipper. Or, Bipper, she supposed. It was clear to her now that they had not thwarted the demon at all. She looked at the body that should have been her brother's and stepped back defensively. How could she have been so stupid?

"Bill." She stated, glaring. Bill stared back at her, face seeming much darker than how he'd been the last... How long had she been living with this demon in her brother's body now? "How didn't I know!?" She asked angrily, going to grab for her grappling hook- Which she obviously brings with her everywhere for anything that called for it. Duh. "Grappling hook," She groaned out as it got caught on a thread of her sweater.

"Oh, don't be too hard on yourself. I know you guys better than you know yourselves! Pretending to be Pine Tree was easy." He looked around the room cautiously, going to close the door so that their words were more private. As he shut the door his attention was brought to the scratches all over the back of the door. "Sheesh. You Pines sure are temperamental. First your brother blames me for this mess, you're threatening me with that hook, and now your brother is destroying your home." Bill ran a hand over the wood and frowned, ignoring Mabel's glares.

"Of course he blames you! You stole his body and won't give it back!" Mabel answered in irritation, yanking the grappling hook out of the folds of her sweater.

"I don't think you two get it," the demon ground out. "I'm using lowly forms of spiritual contact like this stupid board and you're blaming me? Maybe if your feeble human bodies could handle demonic powers better we wouldn't be in this mess!"

There was a bang on the floor- or more corrrectly on the ouji board- causing the two to stop arguing. They both looked down at the board and then at each other.

"He wants us to play." Bill grimaced, obviously not thrilled.

"But I don't want to. That's bad juju." Mabel reasoned, lowering her grappling hook sadly.

"Kid, you've got a demon trapped in your brother's body and a poltergeist on your hands. This stupid board shouldn't scare you." Mabel looked thoughtful for a moment, then sighed.

"Only because I want my brother back." Bill sat down and she copied him, following his instructions. She didn't trust Bill one bit, but she wanted to talk to her brother. She felt like she could feel him just waiting for her to finally use that board.

"He got mad last time," The demon explained, giving Mabel a knowing look. He might not have his ability to "know all" but he could literally smell Mabel through the door. She always smelled like cheap sugar and cake. "He's not like the Pine Tree you knew. If he gets mad, we cut off the session right away. Got it?" Mabel narrowed her eyes at the demon sitting across from her.

"Not like himself? You don't know my brother. He's fine, we just have to get him back in his body." Bill look apprehensive but said nothing as they both lightly touched the planchette and moved it around.

"Pine Tree?" Bill asked, and his answer was the tug of the planchette to the left of himself, the empty space on a side of the board. Dipper was sitting with them. Mabel stared at the space and grinned.

"Bro bro! Great, you're here, let's get you back in your body!" There was a long moment of silence. "Is he still there, Bill? I can't see him." She asked quietly, and Bill frowned. Hard.

"I haven't seen him since I woke up after your puppet show, Shooting Star."


	3. It's Just Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A word to the wise: Don't. Just don't. Don't make him mad, don't provoke him. Don't.

"I'm here," Dipper said aloud, pulling the planchette to the place in front of himself. "Right here..!" He looked at Mabel pleadingly. He missed his sister's voice. He was so lonely...

"Bro bro? Great, you're here, let's get you back in your body!" Dipper felt everything in his spiritual being grow cold as his sister spoke, then he felt it all blazing. Didn't they get it!? He already tried to go back and it didn't work.

And there they were now, just talking. Bill fooled Mabel, Stan, and who knows who else this long...he replaced Dipper. How could Mabel let this happen?!

He stood and ignored their conversation, turning to face the room. He had claimed it as his own since he felt awkward staring at himself sleep every night. This room felt right- Especially now that it was clear he'd been replaced.

He floated across the room toward the couch and two end tables with lamps on them, anger bubbling where his heart should be. He lifted his fist and with a scream and a lot of effort, he knocked the lamp off of the table and onto the floor, shattering it instantly. He twisted around to glare at Mabel and Bill, seeing their horrified expressions.

"You heard him scream too, right?" Mabel asked quietly, then added, "His voice cracked." And she giggled.

Dipper wanted to be mad but he felt like he began to weigh a million pounds after hitting the lamp. He let himself fall to the floor in a heap, getting himself together.

"Shooting Star, I don't think you understand how serious this is. I think Pine Tree is stuck like that." There was that bubbling anger in Dipper's chest again. "I would know better than anyone that you shouldn't make a being that you can't understand mad."

Mabel tried to keep a happy face, Dipper could tell it, but her hope was faltering.

"Let's give it a break and come back later," Mabel started to suggest, getting up and walking for the door.

"You didn't end the session..!" Bill screeched, pulling the planchette to "Goodbye" on the board.

"It's just a board game, Bill, they sell them in toy stores," she told him while laughing."Besides, what are you afraid of? This is Dipper we're dealing with." She went to grab the door knob while laughing to herself.

He had had enough. Dipper was across the room in no time, slamming the door shut, almost hitting Mabel's face in the process. She gasped and stepped back by Bill, eyes wide as they both gazed upon an inky black form that began to structure itself far too close to them for comfort. It turned to face them, two angry glowing red eyes burning into their minds as a body formed around it, blank goop falling in heaps from it's "head".

Dipper let out his anger again, screaming while throwing his head back and letting his hands clench themselves into fists. He didn't register his own manifestation, too overtaken by anger and grief. If Mabel wouldn't understand... Then he'd make her understand.

Bill pushed Mabel down as the light bulb in the remaining lamp exploded, just as the one in the fixture overhead. They huddled together covered in bits of glass while Dipper's scream became more and more distorted, lasting inhumanly long, before cutting off.

They both looked up slowly, seeing that the black form was gone. The puddles of goop were no longer on the floor, either, but the room felt...heavy.

It was with caution that they both rose to their feet and left the room, looking back several times while beckoning the other to hurry.

Dipper watched them.

Dipper watched from the doorway of what was now his room, glaring and huffing.

"It's only me." He whispered harshly. "It's just Dipper." He spat the words out as if they were venom, fists still clenched and voice still trying to scream. He watched them round the corner of the hallway and duck into their room.

Neither Bill nor Mabel was able to sleep. They both sat on the same bed-Dipper's, as Mabel's was covered in sparkles and paint; Mabel hugging her knees to her chest, and Bill hugging himself while thinking. All the while, the clock kept ticking.

1AM.

2AM

3AM

Bill went to stretch, stopping and jumping back by Mabel as he heard a blood curdling noise. It sounded like metal on glass, scraping and scratching. Both him and Mabel covered their ears, wincing until it was over. When they looked up, Mabel pointed to her mirror.

Scratched into it was; "It's only Dipper."

And they remained together on Dipper's bed, eyes wide and scared.

"Why are you still here?" Mabel finally asked, breaking the silence. "This is my brother. You're just a big jerk. He wouldn't be trying to hurt me, it's probably because of you." She sounded angry, but Bill knew she just wanted a reason to be upset with him.

Bill sighed, rolling his eyes.

"I'm stuck here, kid. Leaving would mean being stuck in this stupid fleshy body, no powers, and no way to get your brother back."

He heard a muffled sob, quickly looking to Mabel to see her with her face stuffed into the arm of her sweater.

"There is no way. He's stuck."

He watched her for a moment, sighing and turning away. He ignored her as she began to cry harder, shaking.

And Dipper watched them both from the mirror. He watched them with tired eyes and heavy limbs. He watched them until the both fell asleep, sprawled out near each other and he finally left the room.


	4. Get Her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hold onto what you love. Hold onto it as hard as you can.

Mabel and Bill sat across from each other at the kitchen table, neither one registering it as Stan walked around, ranting about one thing or another. He was on this tangent for a while now, and honestly Mabel doubted that even he remembered why he was mad. Finally, he ended his angry run on sentence with, "Don't you think!?"

Mabel slowly looked up at him with tired eyes, elbow on the table and head propped up on her hand.

"Sure, Grunkle Stan." Then she looked away again.

"What is with you kids today? Did you stay up all night slaying vampires or did you investigate the house settling!?" He started to laugh, then it sunk in that not only did Mabel not even crack a smile, but Dipper didn't even defend his hobby. And why did he look a little different? "Hey, kid, what's the deal?" He went to move towards Dipper, stopping when Mabel shot up and grabbed the back of his white tank top. He felt her let go very quickly, though, and knew it was because of how disgustingly sweat drenched it was.

"Eww, Grunkle Stan!" She shrieked, waving her hand around in a disgusted manner.

"You kids know that when I'm not dressed for the day it's for a good reason. This is my house. I can be sweaty and disgusting if I want to be!" He defensively yelled and mumbled something about ungrateful little freaks while exiting the room.

"Why did you do that?" Bill questioned Mabel, eyes narrowing. "He knows something is up. We don't want him getting in on this, if you're acting like you're hiding something-"

"I don't trust you near my family." Mabel hissed, turning away and running to her room.

It was time for Mabel Pines to do some good for her brother.

She ran through the halls, up the stairs, and past her mirror. She skidded back to it, frowning at herself and shaking her head. A tank top and shorts? Not happening. She threw on a black sweater with a green, smiling ghost on it and her favorite black skirt.

"Perfect." She sang aloud, spinning once before grabbing a bag, Dipper's journal out of it's hiding spot-Which actually terrified her because she could hear him whispering, "No, no, no, no, no, leave it, no, it's all I know."- and the hat that Bill had been refusing to wear. Pfft, and he told her that SHE was going to be the one to give away his position. As she ran down the stairs and out the front door she could feel the familiar tugging on her sweater. "No, Dipper, I am leaving. I'm going to figure this out!" She called, waving behind herself with a random burst of happy energy.

Dipper watched her from the doorway, head cocked to the side.

"Why wouldn't she stay?" He asked aloud. "Who is...Dipper?" He looked behind himself at the brown haired boy in the kitchen. "Him." He floated over, frowning at the boy. "You made her leave. I don't want you two to leave." He watched as the boy got up and grabbed a box of cereal out of the cupboard and slapped it out of his hands.

"What the-" Bill glared around the kitchen. "Pine Tree, you do not want to mess with me."

"Yes I do." Bill could hear Dipper as he said this, turning white as he swore he could feel the breath from those words on his ear. He spun around, slapping at the air pathetically.

"Dipper, why are you taking this out on me?" Bill asked in a hushed voice. "I didn't know you'd get stuck like that! And even more importantly that I'd get stuck in your stinkin' body!" There was nothing for a second, then Bill watched as that same black goop formed into a person in front of himself, the thing's side was to him. The red eyes were trained on the ground, then the head slowly turned to Bill.

"Dipper." It repeated. "Dipper?"

Bill felt himself completely consumed with dread. He was forgetting his own name now?

"Yeah, kid, that's your name. Dipper. Dipper Pines, loves the journals, fights bad things, annoying? Is this ringing any bells!?"

He watched as Dipper gave a cry of pain, grabbing his head and falling to his knees, crying.

"Dipper? What's that noise?" Bill could hear Grunkle Stan getting up from his chair by the TV and heading for the kitchen, himself panicking.

"Kid, we've gotta move." He did the only thing he could think and grabbed Dipper's arm.

With a pained screech Dipper disappeared again, leaving Bill enough time to inspect his hand which now was turning black before Stan walked in. He stuffed his hand in his pocket, pointing at the cereal on the ground with the other.

"I can't stand it, Grunkle Stan, that was all I had left in this world!" Bill pouted, pretending to cry dramatically. He had watched the Pines enough to know that jokes like this were very common. Stan rolled his eyes, grabbing a Pitt Cola out of the fridge before heading back to the TV.

"Crazy kids!" He complained, and Bill sighed in relief. Although, the relief lasted only a second when he looked back at his hand. He went to pull it back out of the pocket, eyes widening when it didn't budge.

He tried to pull the hand out with the other hand, confused when the hand then moved on it's own. He held up one hand, and the other held itself up. The black drained from it and left it looking normal, much to Bill's happiness. It was probably ectoplasm or something silly like that.

A few glances around the room and Bill decided to clean up his mess, assuming Dipper ran away like the pansy he was. When his arm wouldn't budge, though, he began to hear the whispers.

He wanted to believe that they were Dipper whispering in his ear, but this time...they were in his head.

"Get her, get her, get her, get her..."

Bill shuddered and tried to ignore it, almost succeeding until his body wouldn't react quite the way he told it to.


	5. Surprises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel used to love surprises. Not so much anymore.

Mabel walked through the forest with Dipper's hat atop her head, humming while paging through the journal. Every few steps should glance up and try to be sure of where she was, then look back down to read. She didn't stop until she came through a clearing and snapped the journal shut, grinning up at the sky. It seemed as though she had been following an elaborate set of directions until now, her triumphant expression almost selling that thought until she spoke.

"I have no idea where I am!" She announced aloud, then groaned and sat down. "How does Dipper find anything from this journal? Stupid Author." She set the book down beside herself, laying down in the grass and closing her eyes. It wasn't until now that she realized just how sleep deprived she was. She felt as though it had been weeks since she slept right, her lids closing and refusing to open. She struggled for a moment to keep herself awake, but gave in. What would it hurt?

It could have been seconds, minutes, or hours later and Mabel Pines still would have reacted the same way to the sudden panicked yelling, rapid footsteps, and tired breathing. She barely woke up long enough to turn over and look in the direction it came from before something swooped down next to her and grabbed the journal.

"Hey!" She sleepily mumbled/yelled, trying to get up. "That's not yours!" While stumbling into a standing position, she realized the thief didn't run away. They just stood there with the journal. And technically, they weren't a thief at all seeing it as it was Dipper. Or Bill. Who bothered to care anymore? He ran the entire distance from the shack to here, all for the purpose of staring at the journal?

He stood holding the journal in front of himself, staring at it as if it was all he'd ever wanted in life. Bill was far more destructive than this, Mabel was concerned.

"Bill?" Mabel asked, still tired. Dipper's body didn't move. "Dipper..?" She asked, voice full of hope. The body of her brother turned to look at her, blinking once before backing away with the journal. "Wait, stop!" She called, taking a single step forward with her hand extended. She watched as Dipper looked her over and seemed to deem her as trustworthy. "What do I do?" She whispered, sadly staring at her brother. "Dipper, you have to be in there... Where's Bill?"

Dipper's body twitched and left out a terrible yell, as if he were in pain. He shrieked and dropped the journal, clutching his chest.

"Stupid- human body- and stupid- human emotions- and stupid human spirits!" Bill's voice yelled through the shrieks. It was then that something hit the back of Dipper's body, causing all movements to stop. Mabel gasped and ran towards the body as it fell limply to the ground. She hugged onto it and looked up in fear, trying to find the offender.

"Hello!?" She called, hearing rustling in the bushes. "Look, I'm sick of surprises for the rest of my life! So if you're a stupid blood sucking elf or a double headed bunny with a chainsaw or whatever, just come out already!" Mabel feared the worst as she began to hear footsteps. She hugged her unconscious brother harder, feeling whatever was lodged in his back as she did so, and looked in the direction of the footfalls. Out of the surrounding trees and shrugs came a semi large form.

"A goblin?" She asked herself in a hushed but panicked whisper. "An old zombie?" And suddenly Grunkle Stan emerged from the bushes. "AHHH!" She screeched, using Dipper as a shield. "It's so much worse!" She moaned, the realized that Stan held a gun of some sort in his hands. "Grunkle Stan, what did you do?" She asked, worried for the well being of her brother. "Is he going to be okay!?" She almost cried out, watching him come closer and stop by her side. She hugged Dipper's body protectively.

"Calm down, kiddo. It's a gun made for...uh...situations like this."

"You knew?" Mabel asked, looking Stan in the eyes as he bent down and picked Dipper up.

"I'm not stupid, kiddo. Dipper's been sobbing in random closets around the Shack for weeks. Every time I would check on him, he'd be asleep. Then there was all of the broken, flying, and misplaced things around the place." Mabel jumped up and grabbed the journal while they both began the walk back home. "Why did you come out here?" Stan asked, obviously upset. "He could have hurt you."

"There's a witch that's supposed to be really wise about the supernatural," Mabel explained, looking at the journal. "She lives around here... I just don't know where." Then she stopped and pointed an accusing finger at Stan. "You said nothing was going on, Grunkle Stan! What the hey-hey!?" She screeched, and he rolled his eyes.

"Mabel, the tranquilizer dart that's lodged into Dipper's behind isn't going to last forever. We need to get him home. Come on."

"No!" Mabel protested. "Not until you tell me why you lied!" Stan turned with Dipper in his arms and sighed.

"Walk with me and I'll explain." Mabel huffed, obviously angry that he'd lie. Why did he have to lie about everything!? Did he realize how simple things would be if everyone just worked together happily, didn't lie, and just loved life?

A few minutes in to the walk, Stan finally spoke up.

"There was someone I knew a while ago in Gravity Falls that was extremely paranoid about something happening to me. He thought I was possessed or something. And he was worried that if he shared his knowledge with others that they would become targets. He checked my eyes and everything and I still think he had his doubts. I can't just tell you that your brother is possessed, I can't just recklessly let you kids in on things. And I especially couldn't have, uh... Dipper-" He raised his voice in question-"knowing that I had this gun. I honestly don't know what he's capable of now, and I don't know how we're going to fix this."

"Together?" Mabel exasperatedly yelled. "You adults are so blind! It takes team work to fix this stuff! Even Bill knows that better than you!"

They were close to the Mystery Shack by now, walking up into the backyard.

"Bill?" Stan asked, and Mabel slapped a hand over her mouth before laughing nervously.

"Anyways, no more secrets!" Mabel exclaimed, just as a terrible rumbling came from under the shack and sent her, Stan, and Dipper's body into the air.

Stan was going to have a hard time explaining this secret, she could just feel it.

As they hit the ground, Stan collected both her and Dipper and ran into the shack.

"No secrets...Starting now!?" Stan yelled, running in and making a left turn while slamming some numbers into the vending machine.

"I just wanted to find the witch," Mabel groaned. "I'm so sick of surprises!"


	6. Crying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All she could hear was his crying.

Stan hastily ran from the vending machine and went upstairs to lay Dipper's limp body down in his bed, on edge and obviously not listening to Mabel's suggestion on not hiding anything. While she too was keeping a secret, she still felt that this rumbling in the basement and the loss of gravity needed an explanation more than Bill did.

She followed Stan, despite him telling her to watch her brother. She was barely a foot behind him, asking him questions as soon as they came to her mind. Mabel Pines had far too much to think about right now. Unfortunately, Dipper, Bill, and the journal were not on the top of her list.

Dipper's body lay there, a lighter shade than it really should have been. Sure, the boy spent lots of time in doors, but this was a sickly shade of white that he was currently sporting. His chest was rising and falling rapidly in an unsteady rhythm. His eyes remained closed. Sometimes he'd choke a little, twitch, or gasp and try to catch the breath that escaped him so easily when he was so helpless.

While his body was barely reacting or moving on the outside, the inside of his head was certainly lively. At some point or another Bill had been pushed into the recesses of the kid's mind, his own triangular self again but far from being happy.

And what he saw was far from anything Bill had ever hoped to see in the kid's head.

Instead of doors and labyrinths like most people's minds, Dipper's mind currently was a large, dark room with cracks in the walls. White cracks that went from the seemingly nonexistent floor to the endless, dark sky. Bill was certain that his mind was likely different before the whole incident, but now this was all that was left. There was nothing here that made Dipper a person. This was almost as if Bill was inside of an empty vessel.

And the worst part was the crying.

There was this horrible, sobbing and screaming cry echoing through the room. It was definitely Dipper's voice, but this cry was not like the Dipper Bill knew. It was hysterical. It was what he heard in the Mystery Shack at night. It was empty.

Who knew such a loud cry could be so meaningless?

Bill stayed floating in one corner, watching a small childlike shadow figure in the corner opposite. It stood over a large crack in the floor, motionless and silent. He watched as the figure stayed like this for what seemed to be an eternity, then it began to reach for the white light in the crevice below.

"Dipper," Bill spoke, not wanting it to leave. That crack was the end of Dipper's mind. Bill broke him. Dipper's psyche wasn't able to handle his demonic aura for so long, and it wasn't able to handle both of them in the same mind at once.

The figure stopped moving. It still stared at the crack, red eyes wide and so full of absolutely nothing. He had nothing to lose but his life at this point.

"Dipper...kid. Listen to me. There might be a way to stop this." The kid slowly looked up with those red eyes, training them on Bill. "If you do that, you're just going to leave your body an empty shell. You and I both are going to go into that nothingness if you leave through there. We'll have an eternity of nothing- Purgatory. And you're body will sit in a coma-like state. Your family won't ever leave your side in hopes you'll wake up. And you never will." Dipper's eyes sudden scrunched as he gasped- Silently. Bill could only tell from the way he withdrew himself, mouth agape and arms hugging his chest. "But there may be a way to get us both out. If we don't get out, then I promise it will be better than this. You don't want to keep suffering... do you?"

Dipper contemplated this. The crying stopped. The room stayed silent as Dipper began to walk across the room, his shadowy form much more fluid than any human's should be. He stopped in front of Bill, extending a hand.

Bill stared, then took Dipper's hand and let out a blue flame to seal the deal. The entire room gave way, Dipper disappearing and a blinding light taking over whatever was left of his mind.

Bill woke up, staring at the wooden ceiling he'd come to be familiar with. He turned to Mabel's bed and saw that she was still gone. With little thought he grabbed the journal and glared at it, ripping out a page and writing, "Good bye" on it. He rose from the bed and left the page on Mabel's bed then exited through the door, grabbing a random rope-like object in the process. He went to the room that was Dipper's, or at least that is what Mabel called it since the incident, and threw the door open. He could hear Mabel running up the stairs to her room.

He had to be fast.

Bill dragged the table by the couch over to a lower spot in the ceiling, tying the rope onto a rafter and finishing it off with a hole big enough for his head. He took a deep breath.

Mabel ran to her room, both excited and scared. Dipper wasn't going to believe what happened in the basement! She bolted in and immediately was shocked to see her brother's body gone. She spotted the page and grabbed it, shaking her head.

"No. No, no, no, no, no! Bill! Dipper!" She spun around to run out only to hear a loud thud and the sound of struggling.

\---

Mabel sat in her room in the Mystery Shack, suitcases littering the floor and clothes strewn about.

It wasn't the first time Mabel sat on her bed sobbing. Alone, lost, and hurt. And it certainly would not be the last.

She ignored the box of tissues that flew at her, surely with good intent. It wasn't really Dipper trying to help her anymore. Just the ghost of something she once loved trying to comfort her because it could feel her distress. But it was still cold. It was still lifeless. It still was not her brother.

Mabel buried her head in her hands while she cried harder, hearing someone else cry with her. Her and the poltergeist cried together, neither one really understanding why the other was so frantically upset.

It took a while, but her sobs died down to whimpers. She wiped her eyes and looked up, staring blankly until she saw her scrap book laying on the floor near her bed as if she'd intended to pack it but didn't.

She gingerly picked it up and laid it out in front of her on the bed, flipping through it and wincing at any sign of Dipper.

She finally slammed it shut and choked out, "Why does everyone I love leave me?"

Stanley sat outside her door, listening and unsure of what to do. He watched as Ford came up the stairs and frowned at him.

"Her bus leaves in thirty minutes," Ford told him quietly. Stanley frowned harder, if that was possible, and nodded.

"Mabel, sweetie. We have to go."

He entered the room, surprised to find her passed out on her bed. He looked back at Ford and shrugged.

"You can't persuade her parents to let her stay? It isn't good to force her to leave if she's this tired," Ford reasoned.

"I'll call and talk to them." Stanley told him, both of them walking downstairs with grave expressions on their faces.

Mabel stirred as she slept, dreams and nightmares threatening her as she tried to stay unconscious- Just a little. Just for once. It had been so long since she slept...

There was a flash of a dream- Of her and Dipper, safe at home, sitting together and watching T.V. But where there should have been their laughter, the sound coming from the T.V., and the noises of the city...

All she could hear was Dipper's crying.


End file.
